Air-brush and similar apparatus.



H. E. STURCKE. AIR BRUSH AND SIMILAR APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 13. I916.

Patented Feb. 11, 1919.

1 294, l9UB 2 SHEETSSHEET I.

v v avwamfoz fi srmanbdmrdafjmifi Q; 55 attozme H. E. STURCKE.

AIR BRUSH AND SIMILAR APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY I3. I916.

1,29%,190, Patented Feb. 11, 1919.

I 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

@ig ks anew/14c fee EDWARD STU'RCKE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

AIR-BRUSH ANIO SIMILAR APPARATUS.

Application filed May 13, 1916-.

1 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMAN EDWARD Srfincnn, a citizen of the UnitedStates of America, residing at 220 Carroll street, Brooklyn, New York,in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Air- Brushes and Similar Apparatus, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in means for regulating the flowand mixture of fluids, or mixtures of fluids and solids, and isparticularly applicable for use in connection with apparatus in which aregulated stream passes through a nozzle or the like, as in spraying oratomizing devices; the invention relates moreparticularly toimprovements in spraying or atomizing devices'and especially for the:air brushes or pistols which are employed in the art of painting or forlike purposes in well-known manner; but while the invention isparticularly applicable to the art of painting, and

a preferred embodiment of the invention as applied to this purpose willbe hereinafter described. it is to be understood that the invention isequally of value in connection with all types of spraying or atomizingapparatus, and apparatus in which the mixture of two or more substancesis regulated, as for instance, oxyacetylene blow-pipes and the like. 1

Among the objects of the invention are to provide improved means forregulating the mixture and flow of substances; to'pro-vide lmprovedmeans for insuring a uniform atomizing effect; to provide a simpleapparatus which, when once adjusted, can be operated by a simplemovement of, a single operating member; and to provide a simple andinexpensive structure, the internal parts of wlnch are readilyaccessible for renewal, repair or adjustment.

A preferred embodiment of the invention as applied to a paintingtool orpistol will now be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the spraying tool.

Fig 2 is an end-elevation, looking in the direction of the arrow A ofFig. 1. Flg. 3 is a cross-section on line b?) of Fig. 2; and

' Flg. 4 is a cross-section on line c' f Fig. v

Specification of Letters Patent. 7

tion' 1 in the manner shown.

Patented Feb. ii, ieia.

Serial No. 97,376.

Figs. 5 and (3 show diflerent positions of adjustment of the regulatingmeans.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that the painting toolcomprises a body portion 1 and a handle 2. The body portion is bored toprovide a paint chamber 3 and an air chamber 4; threaded to the innerwall of the paint chamber 3 is paint nozzle 5, which in turn issurrounded by air nozzle 6, which latter nozzle is threaded to body por-An annular recess 7 is formed in the body portion between the nozzles 5and 6, and forms with the inside wall of nozzle (3, an annular chamber 8for apurpose hereinafiter explained.

' Air chamber 4 communicates with said annular chamber 8 by means of apassage 9 controlled by the air valve 10, which passage 9 leads into twopassages 11 (Flg. 4)

leading to the bottom of annular recess 7.

Air is supplied to the air chamber 1 through flexible connections 12,connecting-piece 13, tube 14 in handle 2, and passage 15 in body 1.Paint is supplied to chamber 3 through the passage 16 to the Walls ofwhich is at tached a paint-pot 17.

The flow of paint and air to the respective nozzles is controlled byvthe paint valve 18 and the air valve 10. The valve 18 is mounting at itsother end against an annular ring 26 connected to said valve stem'l9 bypin 27. The air valve 10' comprises a conical top 27' mounted on anoctagonal guiding head 27 carried on stem 28 passing through bearingring 29 and packed by a leather washer 30, which can be compressed bygland 31. A coil spring 32 bearing against ring 29 and the hexagonalguiding head normally maintains said air valve in closed position.Pivoted to lug 33 on the body 1 by pin 34: is-

a trigger 35 which is connected by means of a yoke piece 36 with abifurcated valveaotuating member or plate 37, shown more clearly in Fig;2, the arms of which embrace the valve rods 19 and 28. .It will be notedj that the outer or ear ends of these valve rods rot 19 and 28 arethreaded at 38 and 39, and mounted on said ends are the milledregulating nuts or abutments 40, 41, and lock nuts 42, 43; said nuts 40and 41 can be adjusted to various positions along the threaded ends 38and 39 and the operation is such that on applying pressure to thetrigger 35 and moving same toward handle 2, the slotted plate 37 willbear against said nuts 40 and 41 and thereby open the air and paintvalves to the required extent. After the desired position of adjustmenthas been obtained, the lock nuts 42 and 43 are brought into position tomaintain the nuts 40 and 41 against movement. As a result of theconstruction above described, a number of novel regulating effects maybe had with the utmost ease of manipulation. For example, if it isdesired to provide a maximum or substantially maximum opening for bothpaint and air, both regulating nuts can be screwed forward as far aspossible to the left, as shown in Fig. 1, so that the fullworking strokeof the trigger 35 will be applied to the valve stems to cause saidvalves to open to their maximum extent. On the other hand, if it isdesired to effect a minimum opening of the air and paint valves, thenuts can be adjusted toward the rear ends of the valve stems, as shownin Fig. 3, so that the first part of the stroke of the trigger 35 isineffective and merely carries plate 37 into contact with theregulatingnuts, which are moved only during the final portion of the. triggerstroke, thereby opening said valves only to the minimum extent. A rangeof adjustment between these described maximum and minimum openings ofthe valves can be had by intermediate positioning of the nuts 40, 41.

In addition to providing for a simultaneous range of adjustment for thetwo valve members, as described above, it is also possible by means ofmy regulating improvement to provide for independent adjustment of thevalves in order that not only may the stroke of each valve difl'er onefrom the other, but also the timing relation of opening one valve ascompared with the other. For example, as shown in Fig. 5, the airregulating nut 41 may be located in advance of the paint regulating nut40, so

that during the first part of the stroke of trigger 35, the nut41wil1be' carried toward the rear by the plate 37, thereby opening theair valvewithout opening the paint valve, so that the air can clear awayany impediments which may exist in the aperture \of nozzle 6. Continuedmovement of the trigger causes the abutment of plate 35 against nut 40,thereby moving said nut toward the rear and opening the paint valve. Itwill be noted that the extent of opening of the air valve will begreater than that of the paint valve, owing to the fact that theairregulating nut is moved through a greater distance than thepaint-regulating nut. It will be obvious that the paint valve might beopened before the air valve, and that any desired adjustment of the.extent of opening may be had without changing the timing relationbetween the operation of the two valves. 'For instance, as shown in Fig.6, by screwing the nuts toward the rear ends of the threaded valvestems, with the position of the nut 41 relative to the nut 40 the sameas that shown in Fig. 5, that is to say, with nut 41 in advance of nut40, the timing operation will be the same as that described withreference to Fig. 4, but the extents of opening of the two valves willbe lesser, as

only the latter portion of the stroke of trigger 35 will be effective toopen the valves. It will therefore be appreciated that the inventionprovides a single operating member or trigger which, by a simplemovement on the part of the operator, will always cause the tool to workwith the adjustment to which it has been set, and the regulating meanspermit of numerous combinations of adjustments throughout all possibleuseful ranges.

It will be noted that the sides of the valve stems 19 and 28 are cutaway at the rear ends, as -shown in Fig. 2, in order that they may fitinto the rectangular slot in plate 37. This engagement between the twoflat side faces of the valve rods and the fiat faces of the slotprevents any t'urningmovement of the valve stems which would otherwiseoccur were the nuts 40 and 41 to become rusted or stick to the threadedends. It also assists in guiding the correct axial movement of the valvestems.

In order that the tool may bear. against the hand of the operator, arest plate 44 is thence the air flows out through the nozzle 6, at theaperture of which it meets the paint issuing from the paint nozzle 5. Itwill be noted that the edge 45 of the nozzle 6 comes almost in contactwith the edge 46 of the nozzle 5, thereby providing a restricted annularpassage for the air and somewhat blocking the free flow of this air, sothat when the air from the passages 11 flows into the chamber 8, itcannot all escape from said chamber at the point where it flows in, andas a consequence, some of said air flows into the upper part of saidchamber and passes out evenly through the restricted annular openingbetween the'edges 45 and 46. lVere it not for the provision of thisrestricted annular opening, the air coming in through the passages 11 atthe lower part of the nozzle would tend to flow out immediately anddirectly along the lower surface of the nozzle, and as a co equence, thepaint issuing at the top part of the nozzle aperture would not beatomized as thoroughly as that issuing at the lower part of" theaperture. It will therefore be appreciated that the invention provides,for the even distribution of the air as it passes out from the nozzle,and a consequent even atomization of the paint.

Should it become desirable to renew or replace the valve stems 19 or 28,or to replace the springs 24 or 32, it is only necessary to rotate theyoke piece upwardly around the pin 47 which pivotally connects it withthe trigger 35. The plate 37 is thereby disengaged from the valve stems;the bearing piece 22 is then unscrewed, after which the valvespring 19and valve stem can be removed. The air valve can be removed by thesimple expedient of unscrewing the gland 31.

It will be obvious that my improved apparatus is susceptible ofconsiderable modification without departing from the spirit and thescope of the invention, and I wish it to be understood that thepreferred embodiment described herein is ofiered by way of example only.

What I claim is:

1. In a device of the character described, a plurality of outlet means,a plurality of valve members, a. plurality of valve stems, a valveoperating member common to all said valves, a bearing member carried bysaid operatinnmember, and abutments mounted on said stems, saidabutments being adjustable toward or away from the bearing member.

. 2. In a device of the character described, a plurality of nozzles,valves for said nozzles, a plurality of valve stems, abutmentsadjustably mounted on said stems, a common valve opening member, and aIBCtlxlinearly moving bearing member carried by said opening member andadapted to en gage with the adjustable abutments on the valve stems toimpart different increments of movement to said valves.

3. In a device of the character described, a pair of concentric nozzles,a body supporting said nozzles and comprising a pair of chamberscommunicating with said nozzles, valves in said chambers, a pair ofstems for said valves, individually adjustable abutments mounted on saidstems, means normally tending to maintain said valves closed, anoperating member for opening both said valves and a rectilinearly movingbearing member carried by said operating member and adapted to engagewith the adjustable abutments on the valve stems to open said valves.

4. In a device of the character described, a pair of nozzles, a pair ofvalves for said nozzles, having threaded portions. a movable operatingmember, a bearing piece carried by said operating member and nuts onsaid threaded portions, said nuts being adjustable toward or away fromthe bearing member and adapted to engage with the same to transmitmotion from said operating member to said valves through said nuts.

-5. A device of the character described, comprising in combination withthe body, a handle, a pair'of nozzles, a pair of valves arranged in thebody and provided with valve stems having tln'eaded'portions, anoperating member pivoted to said body, 'a

bearing member pivoted to said operating thereto, a pair of valves insaid body controlling said passageways, springs normally ma1nta1n1ngsaid valves-1n closed position and malntainlng said operating member in,normal position, a pair of stems for said valves, individuallyadjustable abutments on said valve stems and a'rectilinearly movingbearing member carried by the said operating member, and adapted toengage with the adjustable abutments to open said'valves against theaction of said valve springs.

7 In a device of the character described, a plurality of nozzles, valvesfor said nozzles, a plurality of stems for said valves,

abutments adjustably mounted on said valve stems, a valve-opening membercommon to all said valves, and a rectilinearly moving bearing membercarried by said operating member. and adapted to engage with theadjustable abutments to open said 'valves and to vary the time sequenceof the opening of the valves. a

8. In a device of the character described, a plurality of nozzles,valves for said nozzles, a plurality of stems for said valves,-

abutments adjustably mounted on said valve stems, a valve-opening membercommon to all said valves, and a rectilinearly moving bearing membercarried by said operating member and adapted to engage with theadjustable abutments to open said valves and to vary the time sequenceand extent of opening of the valves.

9. In a device of the character described, the combination with a bodyof a nozzle supporting portion, an annular recess in said portion, aninner nozzle located concentrically relative to said recess andsupported on said nozzle-supporting portion of the body, an outer nozzlelocated concentrically relative tosaid inner nozzle and having acut-away portion at its inner end, an annular shoulder on said innernozzle, the walls of said annular recess, cut-away portion and shoulderconstituting anannular chamber with a restricted annular outlet, thebody being formed with passage-ways, one or more leading tosaid annularchamber and the other to said inner nozzle, valves for c011- trollingsaid nozzles, stems for sald valves,

adjustable abutments mounted on said valve stems, an operating membercommon to all the valves, and a rectilinearly moving bearing membercarried by said operating member and adapted to engage with theadjustable abutments to open said valves.

10. In a device of the character described, the combination of an innernozzle having a shoulder on its outer face, an outer nozzle concentricwith said inner nozzle and having its inner face located in closeproximity with saidshoulder, said nozzles being formed to provide anannular chamber at the base thereof, a body supporting said nozzles andformed with passage-ways, one leading to the inner nozzle and the otherto a point within said annular chamber, valves for controlling saidnozzles, stems for said valves, adjustable abutments mounted on saidvalve' stems, an operating member common to all the valves, and arectilinearly moving bearing member carried by said operating member andadapted to engage with the adjustable abutments to open said valves.

11. In a device of the character described, the combination of a pair ofconcentric nozzles formed to provide an annular chamber between thenozzles and said chamber opening into the restricted space between theouter and inner nozzle, a body supporting said nozzles and formed Withpassageways, one leading to said annular chamber and the other to saidinner nozzle, valves for controlling said nozzles, stems ,for saidvalves, adjustable abutments mounted on said valve stems, an operatingmember common to all the valvesand a rectilinearly moving bearing membercarried by said operating member and adapted to engage with theadjustable abutments to open said valves.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

-HERMAN EDWARD sTURoKE.

